El Rosario Day 2 & Turtle to San Miguel de Allende

We didn't blog yesterday because we had no internet so today we are doing 2 days in one.  The trip up to El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary was beautiful.   It was pretty steep, but Myrtle handled it fine.   She got a little warm the last kilometer or so.   We camped in the parking lot at the sanctuary, which was at 9,828 feet and headed up the slope 10,200 feet immediately.     We got some great pictures, some of which we posted on the blog the other day.     I wasn't feeling well all day and could tell I had a migraine coming on.    It set in around 10 p.m., and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to join Brenda on another tirip up in the morning.        

It gets cold at this elevation overnight, but once the sun starts to warm up the day around 9:00 a.m., the butterflies start to fly around the parking lot.   My migraine was resolving and I was left with the day-after pounding headache, but I could not resist going back up to see this amazing sight.    We  headed back up to the sanctuary but on the way we got talking to a local farmer Sylvester.   He ended up taking us up through his property.  Some things just work out and this was one of them.  It was so unbelievable.  We got to see so much more then we did the day before in the sanctuary.

Make sure you click on the pictures so they expand.

                                                                   
                                                   Brenda right in with the butterflies.

  The next couple of pictures are the swarms on the branches as the sun warms them up they take off.     Take note that these branches grow upward when there are no butterflies on them.   Imagine how many butterlies it takes to make them bend downward.                               

                                   Great picture.  It's a rare experience, we feel so lucky to have had.

                                                         

This is the normal way to plow the fields in these hills.   Most of the fields are on such a slope that you couldn't use a tractor.

We left around noon heading for Villa Monarch Inn in Zitacuaro, but when we got there it was closed.  So we then headed to Cabanas Balneario Erendira, and on the way we stopped at San Felipe to see the ruins.

                                                These were some of the stone carvings.

 
                             The ruins were ok, but they pale in comparison to the ruins on the Mayan Riviera.   There were alot of steps that were way too steep, and the risers were about half the size of our feet.     

So this is where we ended up.  It is a 14 mile drive off the main hwy through the pine forest.  It was like driving some bush road in northern Ontario.   Then you come to this resort.

            Tthe time they spend on the gardens and trimming the trees is pretty amazing.

You can see where we were parked next to a building and we had water and electricity.  On the other side of the building you can see the pools that are filled from the hot springs.  They are green, which is a bit offsetting.   It has something to do with the minerals in the water.  They were hot, not just warm like the pools in Zinapacuaro.

One of the kids from the resorts asked us if we wanted to see some fish.  We are always up for an adventure (and we really thought he meant on the premises) so we said yes..  He leads us up through the bush on a trail.   We think we must have walked for a couple of kilometers before we came to this fish breeding camp for Rainbow Trout.  We didn't get any good pictures of the fish but they were big some were at least 16 inches long.

This was this morning at the hot springs, see the steam?  It was only 56 degrees out when we got up.

Todays trip was to San Miguel de Allende.  Most of the trip Bertha couldnt even find a road and I'm sure we took a couple of wrong roads because it took longer then was expected.

This is where we were headed, the La Siesta Hotel.   This is what we found... another closed camp.

We ended up at the Hotel Balneario San Ramon.  It seems alright, but we are so exhausted from all the walking yesterday that we haven't even had a look around.   Tomorrow we will check out the town.